The Air Force in Vietnam

After 2 months of negotiations talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam broke down in early December 1972. This enraged President Nixon and a new round of air attacks was conceived. LINEBACKER II was initiated and it was more aggressive than ever before. Nixon left the ball in the court of the military, stating to Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, " I don't want any more of this crap about the fact that we couldn't hit this target or that one, this is your chance to use your military power to win this war, and if you don't Ill hold you responsible." For the next 12 days U.S. B-52 bombers and other aircraft dropped 36,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam, exceeding the tonnage for the past two years before. By December 30, the North Vietnamese were practically out of surface to air missiles and the U.S. continued to rain destruction deep into the heart of North Vietnam. The eleven day "Christmas Bombing" of 1972 had accomplished what hadn't been done in over 14 years, it brought the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table. Sir Robert Thompson, a British advisor to Vietnam summed up the operation, "In my view, on December 30, 1972, after 11 days of those B-52 attacks on the Hanoi area, you had won the war, it was all over! They had fired 1242 SAM's, they had none left, and what would have come in over land from China would be a mere trickle. They and their whole rear base at that point would be at your mercy. They would have taken any terms. And that is why of course, you actually got a peace agreement in January, which you had not been able to get in October."

Amerikas krig i Vietnam ble kjempet med utstrakt bruk av luftstyrker for å stoppe strømmen av menn mot sør, og for å straffe Nord-vietnameserne ble angrepet ført mot Nord. I sør stolte bakkestyrkene på tett luftvernstøtte i håpet om å snu kampens retning. Dette er historien om den anstrengelsen, om de menn og de fly som skaffet Amerika dette pushet framover.

Krigen mellem Amerika og Vietnam blev i stor udstrækning udkæmpet ved hjælp af fly, dette for at stoppe transporten af folk og materiale mod syd og dels for at straffe nord vietnameserne, derfor angreb man mod nord. Mod syd måtte landtropperne slå sin lid til luftværnsstøtte i håbet om at vende krigslykken. Dette er historien om de anstrengelser, planer og de mænd, der udgjorde Amerikas slagkraft fra luften.

Amerikas krig i Vietnam kämpades med omfattande användning av flyg för att stoppa transporten av män och material till söder och för att straffa nordvietnameserna, gjordes anfall mot norr. I söder kom markstyrkorna att lita på flygstöd för att hjälpa att vända på kriget. Detta är historien om de ansträngningar, plan och män som utgjorde Amerikas slagkraft i luften.